Recent Comments

Archives

Meta

Thorgy came to slay Halifax— and slay it she did. Having just recently crushed the only two seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race on Netflix, former two-time contestant Thorgy Thor quickly became a favourite of mine. Funny, empowered, and creative, she exemplified a lot of the greatest elements drag has to offer. (I haven’t seen All Stars yet — so no spoilers, please.) In the finale of Season 8, Ms. Thor stated that performing in a touring orchestra was a long-standing dream of hers, so suffice it to say that seeing her flaunt her fierce self onstage in Halifax (of all places) felt slightly surreal.

Matchstick Theatre ventures deep into the forest with The Woodcutter, a play written by Don Hannah and helmed by its resident director Jake Planinc. An ambitious one-hander, the show rests on the performance of its only actor, Sébastien Labelle. Labelle surrenders himself entirely to the role of Ted, a man navigating the dark forest that is the extensively transformed Bus Stop Theatre.

It was minutes into Argyle Street Kitchen Party when singer/songwriter Ian Sherwoodinvited audience members to come sit onstage during the performance. Imagine my surprise when, while laughing cordially at the offer, I was whisked to the seats in a random spur-of-the-moment decision by my girlfriend. Perched on a stool behind a counter in a very lifelike kitchen, the decision to relocate instantly proved to be a good one. The ensuing performance by Sherwood and fellow musicians Karen Lizotte, Celia Koughan, and Malia Rogers celebrates the beloved Maritime institution, the kitchen party. Fun and infectious, their energy quickly permeated from those sitting mere inches away to the audience members who stayed in their seats.

Terra Novella Theatre’s newest adventure, Obstacle Fest, is built on the simple, unspoken fact that some of the best theatrical moments happen when something goes horribly wrong. A single, unexpected mishap has the make-or-break ability to change the course of a play.

Obstacle Fest is a mixed-bag in terms of its comedic highs and lows. Written, directed, and acted by both newcomers and veterans of the stage, the event features many delightful actors who carried their scenes despite their particular limitations. In other moments, actors went overboard with hammed-up performances and mugging to the audience, which ended up proving that some obstacles can end up working against a play as a whole.

Truth be told, I’ve never really been one for meditation or deep introspection. I am, in many ways, quite guarded emotionally-speaking. I can be frustratingly socially-awkward and self-conscious, and so self-reflective, open-ended, and abstract lines of thinking are often quite difficult for me to embrace.

Halifax’s XOTHEATRE seems to thrive on secrecy. I had little idea of what to expect, and what preconceptions I initially had proved quickly to be incorrect. The location is a secret, and only two people can attend, (for lack of a better word), a “performance,” at a time. You get hooked up with an iPod Shuffle, headphones, and a phone number on your cell belonging to a stranger in Victoria, British Columbia, who is simultaneously doing the exact same thing as you. So start walking and prepare for further instructions.

For Torontonian Jason (Sean Hauk), life is turned upside down when a stranger named Harry (Jeff Schwager) comes knocking at his door with the news that he is Jason’s half-brother. Their father, who abandoned Jason and his mother 30 years ago, is dying of kidney failure. The news of this man’s failing health fails to have any gravitas for Jason, as does Harry’s insistence that he possesses the rare ability to be a life-saving organ donor.

With Neptune Theatre’s newest venture, In A World Created By A Drunken God, Ojibwe playwright Drew Hayden Taylor’s subtly poses questions concerning morality and familial obligation. To what do we owe relationships that were never nurtured? Is it acceptable to keep what happened in the past unaddressed and unresolved?